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5 Life Hacks for the new year

When making my New Year’s Resolutions I like to look back at the awesome stuff I tried last year to see how well it worked. Today I am going to share my top 5 in the hopes it could help you too in your year to come! Enjoy!

1 – Never Leave A Room Empty Handed

All you have to do it bring something with you whenever you leave a room.

Have to get up to pee? Take your glass to the kitchen on the way!
Forgot your phone in the bedroom? Take that pile of folded clothes with you!
On your way back from getting your phone? Put your clothes from yesterday in the hamper!

It takes hardly any effort and you get big results!

How it worked for me this past year:

Since starting this habit there is just a lot less clutter. The spots where items like candy wrappers or mail would pile up are usually completely clear the spots I tend to throw clutter are now my go to spots to find something to leave the room with. I also have started getting rid of more of my stuff I don’t need because it is just another thing for me to forget in the other room.

2 – Two Minute Rule

If something is going to take you two minutes or less to do, just get it over with right now.

I had heard variations of this over and over and never tried it until I came across this post by James Clear. I love this rule because it will saves me all of the hassle of needing to remember to do it later also. So if having it off your plate right this second isn’t enough incentive for you, just think what would happen if you forget to do it? Or the time and paper wasted just to you can procrastinate on such a small task. Two minutes is not that much time so just get it over with.

How it worked for me this past year:

I was surprised at how much more I actually got done. I am a total procrastinator so if something got left to do later for too long I just gave up on it because it started stressing me out. When I started doing everything right then it actually got done! Messes were another area where this really helped me. If I would spill something and not clean it up right at that moment, then every time I saw the little mess it would make me unhappy and I would say “I have to remember to clean that when I clean the kitchen” Well, I pass through the kitchen a lot more then I scrub the counter tops so over a few days that lead to a lot of little annoyances when I saw it. If I would have just cleaned it up right then I wouldn’t be able to see it later! Maybe it is just the OCD in me but I feel a lot happier without the little spills and messes around my apartment.

3 – Make Your Bed

I feel like this is one of those things that falls under the two minute rule so you should probably just do it… BUT it is also this crazy thing called a keystone habit that basically means if you start your day on a good note the rest of your day tends go more smoothly when sticking to good habits. It also makes your room look less cluttered, which helps de-stress you a bit, and if you plan on cleaning your room it gives you a nice big surface to put stuff while you organize!

How it worked for me this past year:

Getting into bed at night when the bed is made and ready is one of my favorite things. I even got a little fancy and bought some lavender linen spray! If it were not for my cat being so adorable on the unmade bed some mornings I would have the bed made every day!

4 – Starting Can Be The Hardest Part

What I was trying to say in a catchy heading is that the first hurdle of getting something done can just be starting it. You can usually just work off the momentum of the initial start to follow though with the rest of the task. If you don’t have the momentum after starting that’s fine too because your goal was just to start, mission accomplished! Here is another James Clear Post with more on the topic.

How it worked for me this past year:

This helped me a lot in getting this blog going. I never felt ready or things were not perfect enough to start posting. So I decided to just leap before I looked and it turned out great. I got so much done this past year and came way outside my comfort zone. Even if it was a project that I was just procrastinating on with no benefit to finishing it, just starting it usually lead to, just finishing it.

5 – Habit Stacking

This is the post that started it all. The concept is basically to take an established habit and associate the new habit you want to do with it. For example if you want to journal daily and you are already in the habit of brushing your teeth every night just put a note near your toothbrush reminding you to journal after you finish. Then after doing that for a while you will just associate journaling with brushing your teeth before bed and it will become habit.

How it worked for me this past year:

I take my vitamins in the morning after I brush my teeth.
I fill out my daily journal after I finish doing my makeup in the morning
I hang up my jacket after I take my shoes off – No jacket piles!!!!
I tweeze my eyebrows at stop lights

This year I have already started my next one!
For the past week I make coffee in the morning and then do 10 minutes of meditation while it brews. The timing of it syncs up pretty close and I am rewarded for doing my meditation for the day with coffee! YES!

BONUS!

This year I wanted to start giving away a printable art piece or phone and computer wallpapers on my first post of each month to inspire or make you giggle. So I am starting things off with this guy! There are 2 versions, one with 2016 and one without. Simply click on the button below! I made both versions for iphones4-6, a standard phone background, and a larger version for your computer at home! Any way you would want it! ENJOY!Get The 2016 Confetti Walpapers NOW! Click Here!